Red tape remains big investor concern

I am glad that we have achieved significant success in reducing administrative procedures in many ministries and agencies, particularly at the Ministry of Finance, in recent years. It was highly valued by both domestic and international businesses.

However, there are two phenomena that require the Minister of Finance's attention.

Firstly, despite the reduction in red tape, each new law or decree issuance normally results in more complicated administrative procedures.

During my time in the Prime Minister's think tank, we suggested a law on administrative procedures. Accordingly, Vietnam must have no more than 2,000 to 3,000 administrative procedures that would be issued only by laws, not by decrees or circulars.

Vietnam's Association of Foreign Invested Enterprises received numerous reflections on this issue from foreign enterprises. Despite efforts of the General Department of Taxation and Vietnam Customs, businesses continued to face red tape and harassment. They expected further radical reforms, simpler apparatus, unification of all levels, and fewer administrative procedures.

Some state agencies are gradually simplifying their structures, but progress is slow due to pandemic fallouts. There could be no good apparatus or institutions if there are no qualified laborers.

Secondly, the world is concerned that governments may continue to intrude too heavily in businesses and society, as they did during the Covid-19 outbreaks. Isolation, medical declarations, and firms' adoption of the “three on-site" model, which kept its staff on-site and tested them all every three days, were examples of this. Experts warned of the dangers of governments implementing such measures in the current situation.

The Vietnamese government should return to its duty of controlling the state through a digital government, an e-government, while assisting enterprises and people in exercising their legitimate interests and rights, without interfering with corporate governance and business.

*Prof. Nguyen Mai is former Vice Chairman of the State Committee for Cooperation and Investment (now the Ministry of Planning and Investment) and currently Chairman of Vietnam's Association of Foreign Invested Enterprises (VAFIE).